The Dom, as it’s colloquially known, plumbed the depths last year with a ridiculously over-the-top full-page photograph of a Queen’s Counsel caught driving over the limit; justifiable treatment only if he’d won the Nobel Prize or climbed Everest naked.

But it topped all previous idiocies recently when it devoted 90 per cent of the front page to a mind-blowingly non-story relating to a mortgagee house sale. Across the top it ran three photographs of a weeping Mrs Fesuiai.

Underneath, the bold-type lie, “An $800 debt spirals into $79,000″. I say “lie” because it transpired the original $800 car tyres loan back in 2003 was subsequently added to by further borrowings “to cover family events, gifts and other expenses”, in Mrs Fesuiai’s words. The interest rate quoted is the standard one for hire purchase, credit cards and the like.

I blogged on this story at the time.

But back to Mrs Fesuiai. It transpires, despite the lender’s overtures to accommodate her and her husband, both in full-time employment with their children grown up and gone, she remains obstinate, refusing to make payments, thus forcing the lender to pursue a mortgagee sale.

Their house has a valuation of $250,000 and they have equity in it of $120,000.

I researched the lender, Finance Now, and discovered it’s owned by one of our most respected and oldest banks, the Southland Building Society, formed in 1869. Last year, it was awarded the Financial Institution of the Year honour at the Roy Morgan Research Customer Satisfaction Awards. That’s quite a tribute, hardly suggesting usury.

Indeed.

All of this raises two issues. First, the incompetence of the Dom in insulting its readers with such front-page rubbish, a classic case of a newspaper creating the “news”. But it also highlights the mindset of many of our citizens with an unjustified sense of entitlement, an attitude the Dom promoted in presenting Mrs Fesuiai as a victim, which she most certainly is not.

Some media delight in finding and promoting victims. Campbell Live has turned it into a daily art.

Consider the account in this newspaper recently regarding the Avondale College ball. The school wants to prevent pupils attending whose parents haven’t paid the annual “donation” of $175, despite paying $110 for the ball ticket.

The Herald ran a photo of a Mr Tony Hunt and his crestfallen daughter. “This is extortion,” Mr Hunt complained.

In response, the board of trustees chairman correctly pointed out that the ball was an extra-curricular activity, thus they could set their own terms but “in the case of hardship the school would come to the party”.

The account did not detail Mr Hunt’s financial circumstances; still, one questions his priorities if he forks out $110 for a ball ticket but won’t chip in a tax-deductible mere $3.50 a week to aid his daughter’s education, as the parents of all but three of the college’s 2700 pupils have done.

Only three out of 2,700. That’s pretty good. No surprise the school doesn’t want to reward those who don’t.

State schools are substantially funded by the wider taxpaying community but across the land parents chip in a further $100 million annually in donations. But not Mr Hunt, because in his mind he is entitled to an education for his daughter at everyone else’s expense and to expect him to contribute is extortion.

How have we descended to this situation where so many citizens feel no moral qualms in living off their fellow citizens’ toil? Our welfare society’s excesses are morally bankrupt and we all know it.

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113 Responses to “Bob Jones on culture of entitlement”

Two things can be blamed for today’s sorry state of affairs:
1) a far too generous welfare state, exploited by bludgers and idlers; and
2) a socialist mentality foisted on the masses by sucessive Labour and National governments.

“Our welfare society’s excesses are morally bankrupt and we all know it.”

I would disagree on this point. We do not all know it. Many children have grown to adulthood by means of immersion in the Dewey patterned education system. A system that does its best to eradicate morality by means of promoting such concepts as moral relativity and other Marxist/ Progressive devices.

Sadly a large part of our population now has no understanding of the basic moral tenets (derived from our Christian ancestry) that once made NZ one of the best countries in the world.

Today, as Bob points out, its a crime ridden welfare addicted shit hole and we have the anti-morality brigade, the Progressives and the Marxists, to blame. Not only for their work in education but also for their work in the political make up of ALL our political parties.

And of course in the media (John Campbell is just the tip of the iceberg).

Sadly a large part of our population now has no understanding of the basic moral tenets (derived from our Christian ancestry)

What an idiotic thing to say. Religion has been the single biggest hurdle in developing morality and advancing mankind. Thankfully few Christians follow the bibles morality and are ok people, in spite of what the bible clearly instructs them to do.

You are a moron Red. Instead of thumping the bible try reading the thing.

Yeah, and look how well things went when the atheists took over. Stalin. Mao. Pol Pot

You idiot. They were driven by socialism not atheism. Atheism is not a belief system.

And spare me the cowardly “agnositic” crap. Either you believe in something or you do not. Grow a pair and pick a side. The default is atheism unless there is evidence. I see no evidence and so I do not believe. I do not hide behind the absurd “agnostic” label like a gutless appeaser, because I believe in truth. You just want to keep a foot in the door with religious conservatives. You are full of shit.

Really Kea.
I agree with you that NZ, comparatively speaking, is still a good place to live, despite the inroads that the liberals and progressives are making in destroying our society.

But you really do have to get of your hobby horse of denigrating Christianity and spreading lies and falsehoods. The Roman Empire before Christianity was starting to implode through moral decay, slavery and the like, and it was Christianity that held things together with order instead of chaos. It has done for 19 centuries – but Marxism, modernism and relativism are starting to collapse our society again – not Christianity.

Like you Tom, Kea constantly attacks Redbaiter. This makes him one of yours. The idea that to be against a few things like institutionalized racism and welfare and global warming makes one a right winger is long outmoded. Kea is a Progressive and he’s therefore on your side of the political fence. Its why whenever there’s any serious disagreement on social/ political policy, you’ll find Kea Nasska Thedavincimode Griff etc all aligned with you guys. I’m you’re real enemy, because I do not buy into the suffocating ideological conformity of Progressivism, and I know you know that.

Tom, I have no idea why Red thinks he is “right”. The little retard has the most authoritarian views I have ever heard. He mistakenly thinks right means conservative and appeals to some sort of religious inspired golden age of morality in the past, that never actually existed. I do not think he is much of a reader.

New Zealand supposedly has a free public education system, so the father is right to think his daughter should be entitled to free education. A donation is by definition voluntary. The school should thank those who donate, not punish those who don’t.

“You just want to keep a foot in the door with religious conservatives.”

Of course I do. They’re decent good moral people who are a massive force in combating the left. Progressives like you on the other hand are too confused about where you stand, have too much in common with the left and are therefore in any political battle just worthless white ants. In the battle for liberty I’d take a Christian any day over a Marxist besotted Progessive.

Don the Kiwi, you would be forgiven for thinking that I have a problem with Christians. I actually do not. Though I am uncomfortable with religion generally for well considered reasons. However, I acknowledge that the need to believe in “something” is a very human trait. I work with an ordained Minister. We agree on most things about society, family and life. I largely believe what he believes, but it is not informed by God in my case.

You will only see me “denigrating Christianity” in response to people claiming the moral high ground on the basis of their beliefs. Seldom will I fire the first shot.

If the default is atheism and you have evidence for this then tell me how the star system Sirius was formed. Tell me what is at the end of this universe. Tell me where time is headed. Tell me what was here before the perceived “big bang”.

(3) Use condoms
(4) There’s only so much fun to be had at social functions based around drunken teenagers
(5) pack raping some poor fellow in the rear with a broom handle is NEVER ok
(6) Setting fire to your mate’s grass skirt in the toilets is NEVER ok
(7) For the love of God, USE CONDOMS.

“They were driven by socialism not atheism. Atheism is not a belief system.”

Socialism is a sub group of totalitarianism. Any field of competing ideas denies totalitarians the complete control they seek. All leftists from Marx onwards desired to eliminate religion for it would provide a competing belief system and therefore undermine totalitarian communism.

I think the school should allow that kid to buy a ball ticket, but at a special increased price to reflect the fact that her parents haven’t paid the donation while (just about) all the other kids’ parents have. Say, perhaps, $285. That ought to cover it.

Although some discredited quack theory about the collapse of an accretion disc under gravitiational forces is also put forward by some corrupt scientician-types (no doubt trying to perpetuate their own funding streams…)

All leftists from Marx onwards desired to eliminate religion for it would provide a competing belief system and therefore undermine totalitarian communism.

I 100% agree with that.

You have just acknowledged that religion is used to control the masses. It always has been a political system not a spirtual one. All of the rotten unelected kings & queens had the church on their side helping to oppress the masses and keep them in servitude. In many countries today religious advisors still hold the power behind the throne. Many “believers” think this also and are opposed to organised religion for that very reason.

Kea: I’m a leftist and I generally wouldn’t be in favour of policies to actively suppress religion. Though I’m very critical of post-Mao China, I prefer their strategy of trying to co-opt religious bodies, so that they support the regime.

They are specifically banning her from the ball for not paying the voluntary donation. I was not even commenting on the school’s decision to ban her. I was commenting on Bob Jones claiming the father has a misplaced sense of entitlement. I’m saying the father is right to feel his daughter is entitled to a free education and the school shouldn’t take punitive actions against him for failing to do something entirely voluntary. If the ball is covered by the donation then charge a slightly higher amount to those who haven’t donated. Barring them entirely is wrong.

I’m not so sure he’s right about the dance. I agree that the parent in question seems a bit of a dick, but the idea that the dance is an extra-curricular event so doesn’t need to adhere to equal treatment of all students is a bit suspect to me.

That sort of logic seems very spurious. The school is the school is a school and it seems an abuse of position to be a school implementing demands beyond legal requirements for participation in something it organizes.

What if the child paid for the dance but their parent didn’t provide the donation? Attempting such fine slicing of responsibility and authority may please lawyers but is a morass of moral and ethical diffilculties best laid to rest by not attempting them.

If the default is atheism and you have evidence for this then tell me how the star system Sirius was formed. Tell me what is at the end of this universe. Tell me where time is headed. Tell me what was here before the perceived “big bang”.

I don’t know. What I do know is that some smart people have some ideas, called hypotheses, about what was before the big bang, and that there is some evidence to support them. What I also know is that those same people will be happy to reject those hypotheses if there is evidence to suggest another answer or to disprove their answer. That is the scientific method, which differs significantly from religious dogma.

“That is the scientific method, which differs significantly from religious dogma.”

It was never about religious dogma, it was about Kea stating (falsely) that he had evidence to support his default atheist position. He said his opinions were based on truth, but when asked to answer those questions, said he didn’t know the answer. An answer he doesn’t know that is truthful. Some verbal gymnastics.

We are born atheists and we are taught religion. Which religion is an accident of birth. No believe in religion is the default position. Just as no belief in the Tooth Fairy, Trolls, Goblins and other nonsense is the default position.

Get it through your head retard. There is nothing special about the Christian God. Non belief in that God is not a statement about anything and is not a belief. Any more than not collecting stamps is a hobby.

Even naming someone an “atheist” is absurd. How about just calling them “reasonable” or “considered” or ” honest” instead.

You said above it was your “default positition”. You just said you were “born an atheist”. You’ve been talking worthless shit all day and each time you’re called on it you just move on to something else. You’re just a rabbiting Marxist troll.

Showing once again the absolute paucity of your political perceptions.

And of course reaching out to your comrade Milky again.

See it is just as I say.

Milky and his openly commie mates are not really the trouble any longer. They’re gone. The enemies of freedom are the fake right, those who steeped in the mores of Progressivism, and narrow in their outlook and perceptions, continue to reach out to the left for support and sustenance. They are the real enemy. Always have been.

RRM knew on election night 2008, that Weddy’s impotent, visceral loathing of the leftwould soon be re-directed at the right, for being not right enough, in all manner of ways that would doubtless soon become apparent.

And what do you know…?

He is a man defined by his hatred. He knows nothing else. You won’t find a positive comment by Weddy anwhere. He has my pity…

Red, I am not really concerned about left/right. I like good ideas. If milky the commie has a good idea, then I support the idea. Simple as that. You can not change anything by focusing entirely on points of difference. You bring about change and get people on board by building on common ground.

Imagine you raising an army (to fight the communist gays) The first thing you would do is shoot all the volunteers for being traitors because they had a different view on giving milk to kids or something.

@Redbaiter – You went with Alpha Centauri rather than Sirius last time.

But the answer is the same; gravity. Gravitational forces pull clouds of gas together into a star, large stars go supernova resulting in widespread nucleosynthesis (via endothermal fusion reactions) of heavy elements, … blah blah blah… which was the result of the big bang.

Would I be correct to guess your next question will be “what caused the big bang”?

The answer is, we don’t know. And because (by the most widely accepted scientific models) time only started with the big bang, even the concept of a cause creates philosophical problems. It’s difficult to talk about a cause preceding an event without time for both to occur in.

Sir Bob forgets that the same level of obstinacy is exhibited by countless crooked directors of failed finance companies appearing in the courts on fraud charges involving millions of missing dollars. That same level of misconstrued self entitlement is apparent. Following the same line of reasoning as applied by Sir Bob I conclude that the right wing tory system is morally corrupt and we all know it.

Kea old chap-must you dominate every thread by posting incessantly? Couldn’t you have your say and then let others post for a while? It just seems bad manners old chap.

I would add that the culture of entitlement has become all pervasive. Human rights is a concept where we have supposedly all these rights but no commensurate responsibilities. I just do not believe we have all these rights and yet have no responsibility to anyone else. The golden rule would suit us better- “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Like you he is an obsessive troll. I made one very distant reference to Christianity and he homed in on it above every other point and has gone on and on about it all fucking day. As he does every day.

You obsessive secularists are far worse than any Christians who are much more discreet usually.

“Crap….what’s discreet about Godnutters cutting & pasting Genesis & Revelations & a good part of goes between every day?”

I don’t see that. I see you and other secular progressives fastening your jaws on any slight reference to religion even if its a side issue and turning it into the main issue. As Kea did here. You’re smug, you’re not anywhere near as funny as you think you are, and you are trolls and abusers of this forum. I remember it before you obsessive smug unfunny dumbfuck secularists and your mania turned up and it was a lot more intelligent and a lot more fun.

Johnboy – Agreed, the view from parts of the St Arnaud range are amazing. I had the opportunity to visit a DOC repeater site above Lake Rotoiti, and the view out over the lake was one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen.

Still fit enough to get up there and do it, just that life has changed a lot in my 40’s and I do not focus my life around hunting and guns. Though I am starting to miss it after a few years off. I have had some great adventures and seen some amazing country.

Red, you are the most notorious cyber lunatic in NZ, and have been for well over a decade and a half now (right back to when you used to call yourself “Sovereign Individual”.

You don’t even have a coherent political worldview. Your schtick consists of you constantly labelling anyone and everyone you dislike as some combination of a Marxist, totalitarian communist, socialist, progressive, secular, liberal, notwithstanding the fact that you don’t appear to be acquainted with the actual meanings of any of those terms or the conceptual inconsistencies created by recklessly combining them in the way that you do.

To top it all, you invariably rant about the authoritarian, anti-freedom, anti-free speech tendencies of New Zealand’s milquetoast “progressive” parties whilst at the same time holding up the Republic of Singapore as an ideal – an authoritarian, one-party state that is routinely on the list of human rights violators and which lacks a free press.

And you wonder why you are the object of ridicule from both right and left.

Why is it so hard for you to understand that I couldn’t give a fuck what some deadbeat commie retard’s opinion of me might be? Don’t you think I have heard a hundred such opinions? Or maybe even a thousand. Why would you think I need to hear the same bigoted partisan opinons once again? FFS..!!

Really, to me its more concerning that you would abuse the thread to write such off topic stuff than to hear what your view of Redbaiter might be.

I don’t give a fuck and I don’t think anyone else does either. Get a life you sad whinging pitiful small minded commie. And try and stick to the thread topic.

Roads are made, streets are made, services are improved, electric light turns night
into day, water is brought from reservoirs a hundred miles off in the mountains —
and all the while the landlord sits still. Every one of those improvements is effected
by the labour and cost of other people and the taxpayers. To not one of those
improvements does the land monopolist, as a land monopolist, contribute, and yet by
every one of them the value of his land is enhanced. He renders no service to the
community, he contributes nothing to the general welfare, he contributes nothing to
the process from which his own enrichment is derived. (Winston Churchill, 1909,
quoted by Barker 2003, p. 116).

Wouldn’t be so bad if they were actually being educated and not just processed through a bunch of second rate socialist sausage factories staffed by third rate illiterate ignorant of history commies who rejoice in the misnomer of teachers.

Meanwhile, back to topic……..But back to Mrs Fesuiai. It transpires, despite the lender’s overtures to accommodate her and her husband, both in full-time employment with their children grown up and gone, she remains obstinate, refusing to make payments, thus forcing the lender to pursue a mortgagee sale.

Bob Jones is right, but we don’t need to worry as much as all that about the effect of entitlement-driven media stories. A great many of the general public see straight through this rubbish. They know the story is bunk. I increasingly advise my clients NOT to give in to media-driven entitlement but to stand their ground if their position is fair. The general public are reasonable judges.